Sometimes...a great buy!

If you have ever had the opportunity to shop for wine in a Pennsylvania State liquor store you may already know; the words knowledgeable, user-friendly, organized, or well stocked, generally do not apply. Unless of course you live near one of the state's "Premium Collection" stores. Unfortunately the closest one to me is roughly twenty miles away. Now- the state has this guy they call the chairman. I don't know who he is- but he is apparently their wine maven and chooses some more interesting "premium" wines at very discounted prices. How does he do it? I don't know (yet). I'm currently doing research on the PLCB- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. (That's right- I said "control".) I'm sure I'll have more on this another time. So if you're willing to shop with no expectations at all- and you can trust your own judgement (consider yourself to be the only sound judge in the place-generally speaking of course.), and you're opened to serendipity-you may just find some interesting buys. Not unlike this bottle shown here. I stumbled on to this a month or so ago- took the chance at around twelve bucks and found myself quite pleased!
The bottle is a William Knuttel 2007 Pinot Gris from Santa Cruz Co. California. If I may wax sommelier-ish- It's got lovely aromas of dried apricots and vanilla with candied orange peel on the palate and a bright mineral like finish. This is a well balanced-lovely wine. It's also a great value-something hard to come by at the state store. Though, to cut them a little slack, they are getting better. As with most of the chairman's selections this too will go out of stock with a good chance of never being seen again. Until then, I will purchase as many bottles as my meager monthly wine budget allows and hope to be visited by serendipity once more.


The background is a detail of an untitled oil painting on canvas by Mimi Peterson